Essex Investment Management Co. LLC decreased its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 46.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,790 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 23,981 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC's holdings in Cognex were worth $829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,381 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,699,000 after buying an additional 12,797 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,299,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,742,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 243,098 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $8,717,000 after purchasing an additional 23,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at about $745,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Cognex from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $37.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, June 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.08.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on CGNX
Cognex Stock Down 0.7%
Shares of CGNX stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.47. 3,512,890 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,105,354. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of 57.00 and a beta of 1.47. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $44.17. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $31.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.81.
Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $249.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.70 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.64% and a net margin of 13.13%. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Cognex Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Cognex's payout ratio is 45.07%.
About Cognex
(
Free Report)
Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.
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